4 Executive Summary The Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) and its partners (OFAC, USAID, EC JRC, OSFAC, WWF, WRI, WCS, GOFC GOLD, START, UN FAO) organized an international conference on "Monitoring of Carbon stocks and fluxes in the Congo Basin" in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, 2 4 February The conference brought together leading international specialists to discuss approaches for quantifying stocks and flows of carbon in tropical forests of the Congo Basin. The conference provided a unique opportunity to assess the status and capacity to monitor forests in the Congo Basin and to identify key technical issues related to carbon monitoring in the region. The specific objectives of the conference were to: (a) provide an overview of current land cover, land use and carbon monitoring activities in the Congo Basin, including both field based and remote sensing projects; (b) assess current capacities for land cover, land use and carbon monitoring at the regional and national levels; (c) establish scientific and technical guidelines for successful carbon monitoring in the Congo Basin; (d) identify current satellite data needs for Congo Basin land cover and carbon monitoring, including data acquisition, data access and data dissemination, and develop a strategy to meet these needs; and (e) identify a mechanism to inform COMIFAC and national governments on the technical issues associated with carbon monitoring, particularly in the context of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). The report summarizes key points from the plenary sessions and working groups, and presents recommendations for near and medium term actions. In addition to supporting the REDD process, the findings presented here apply as well for advancing regional capacity for land cover and land use monitoring in general (e.g., for land use planning, agricultural monitoring, conservation of biodiversity). Key findings of the conference include: 1. Estimating forest cover change using remote sensing has reached a good level of maturity in the Congo Basin. This work will contribute to MRV systems in the region. Two operational approaches, basin wide mapping (by SDSU OSFAC) and thematic sampling of 400 km2 (by JRC UCL OFAC FAO and national experts), used Landsat images to establish rates of deforestation in the Congo Basin. The rates (~ 0.2% / year) are low compared to other tropical continents. It is recommended that these results be consolidated and national authorities collaborate in producing this vital information. 2. Central Africa has suffered from poor spatial data acquisition policies. Only Landsat data are routinely available (through OSFAC), with limitations on quality in recent years seems to mark a turning point in improved data acquisition: (i) DMCii coverage is being finalized (GMES), (ii) free SPOT data for REDD+ in the Congo Basin should soon be available (AFD), (iii) a satellite ground receiving station is to become operational in Libreville in 2011 (French Brazilian Gabon project), (iv) free CBERS data are available to African users, (v) recent ALOS PALSAR radar data, with wall to wall coverage for the Congo Basin, is available (Japan), and (vi) the GEO Forest Carbon Tracking initiative in Central Africa will facilitate data access to designated national demonstrator countries. With these efforts Central Africa should catch up in the years to come. However, further efforts should be made in two areas relating to data access: fostering a policy of open data and making data readily available from receiving stations and data providers to domestic users by strengthening infrastructure for data dissemination (e.g., internet, GEONETcast). 3. Despite the progress in mapping biomass using satellite Earth observations (a combination of radar and optical images), a number of challenges need to be met to reliably estimate carbon stock, including: (i) collection of forest inventory data pertinent for biomass estimates for different forest types (including soil, litter, dead wood and Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry 2010 iv

10 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and Objectives The Congo Basin forest is the world s second largest tropical forest; as such it has the ability to sequester large amounts of carbon and regulate global climate. Understanding stocks and flows of carbon in Central Africa is fundamental to improving our knowledge of climate change. Technical Challenge From a technical perspective there is still a lack of scientifically proven and internationally recognized methodologies for estimating and monitoring of stocks and flows of carbon. Specific to the Congo Basin, some information useful for this purpose is currently available from land cover and land use changes studies derived from remote sensing (wall to wall or sampling based), generic allometric equations for the estimation of aboveground tree biomass and inventory data from permanent sample plots and management inventories for several million hectares of forest concessions. However uncertainties remain and there is scope to improve estimates with better field data collected for carbon stocks assessment, allometric equations designed specifically for the region and improved access to satellite imagery. There has been long standing interest in monitoring of Congo Basin Forests, largely driven by research on biodiversity, ecosystems, land use and earth system observations. The inclusion of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in the climate change treaty negotiations has generated intense interest in forest monitoring in the Congo Basin. According to the "State of Forest 2008 report of the Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC), No matter which final REDD mechanism is chosen, we will need to know as accurately as possible how much carbon (C) is: stored in different standing vegetation types (especially forests) and soils; released through AFOLU (agriculture, forestry and other land use) activities. (State of the Forest 2008, p191) Regional Coordination Challenge In February 2000, the UN sponsored Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC GOLD) held a regional workshop at Libreville. The workshop initiated the establishment of the OSFAC (Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d'afrique) regional network. With support from Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) and others, the OSFAC office was established at Kinshasa in 2004, with its point of contact based in Cameroon. The first joint initiative by all OSFAC members was preparing inputs to the State of the Forest reports for 2006 and With EU support and numerous partners in the, the OFAC (L'Observatoire des Forêts d'afrique Centrale) was formed in 2007, acting as a reference center supporting COMIFAC. Since 2007, OSFAC and OFAC have partnered on forest mapping and assessment topics, as well as capacity strengthening activities. The partnership has been challenged with: strengthening links to national entities; effectively transferring data and information to members; involving academic institutions; and retaining a long term and active cadre of members. The emergence of REDD and the national readiness activities initiated in the Congo Basin region necessitate that the networks now address: a stronger integration between OFAC, OSFAC and other regional partners; official link with COMIFAC; more joint activities directly involving all the countries; links with training institutions in order to create critic mass; and Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

11 need for a scientific committee for guaranteeing the quality of the products delivered by the countries to the international conventions. It is with this background that the Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC) and its partners invited those with a technical interest in monitoring land use change, land cover and their relationship to carbon quantification to the international conference on Monitoring Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin. The conference was held from 2 4 February 2010 at Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. The conference brought together leading international specialists to discuss approaches for quantifying stocks and flows of carbon in tropical forests of the Congo Basin. The conference provided a unique opportunity to assess the status and capacity to monitor forests in the Congo Basin and to identify key technical issues related to carbon monitoring in the region. The specific objectives of the conference were to: provide an overview of current land cover, land use and carbon monitoring activities in the Congo Basin, including both field based and remote sensing projects, assess current capacities for land cover, land use and carbon monitoring at the regional and national levels, establish scientific and technical guidelines for successful carbon monitoring in the Congo Basin, identify current satellite data needs for Congo Basin land cover and carbon monitoring including data acquisition, data access and data dissemination, and develop a strategy to meet these needs, and identify a mechanism to inform COMIFAC and national governments on the technical issues associated with carbon monitoring, particularly in the context of REDD. 1.2 Conference Organization Sponsoring Agencies The following agencies are gratefully acknowledged for providing support to the conference: COMIFAC: Commission des Forêts d Afrique Centrale UN FAO: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization USAID Central African Regional Program for the Environment JRC: Joint Research Centre, European Commission OFAC: Observatoire des Forêts d Afrique Centrale GOFC GOLD: Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics START: Global Change SysTem for Analysis, Research, and Training OSFAC: Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d Afrique Centrale WCS: Wildlife Conservation Society WRI: World Resources Institute WWF: World Wildlife Fund for Nature Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

12 Organizing Committee The following individuals organized the conference and are thanked for their contributions. COMIFAC Raymond Mbitikon FAO Erik Lindquist OFAC Carlos de Wasseige, Robert Nasi GOFC GOLD / OSFAC Landing Mané, Chris Justice, Alice Altstatt, Michael Brady WRI Lyna Bélanger, Matthew Steil WWF Paya de Marcken, Ken Creighton JRC Philippe Mayaux WCS Paul Telfer The committee gratefully acknowledges the conference hosts in the Republic of Congo, including the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Forest Economy and Environment, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Organization of the Conference and Report The conference was attended by 136 participants from all countries in the Congo Basin and from 14 countries outside of the region (Appendix 1). Opening remarks were provided by COMIFAC s Deputy Executive Secretary, Martin Tadoum, followed by a welcoming address from the Principal Private Secretary of the Sustainable Development Ministry, Republic of Congo. Opening remarks on Carbon budget challenges and opportunities were also provided by Emilie Wattelier of the European Union delegation and John Flynn of the USAID Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE). Following the opening session, the three day conference included several plenary sessions and working group discussions (Appendix 2). Plenary sessions were as follows: Day 1 (i) Overview of carbon monitoring and REDD projects and (ii) land cover and land use monitoring activities at the national and regional levels. Day 2 (iii) technical approaches for carbon monitoring: methods and results from projects with emphasis on remote sensing and field measurements, (iv) projects relating to other environmental services provided by the forest and (v) access to satellite data; current and future regional acquisitions. The third day was devoted to working groups with the following themes: 1) monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems in support of REDD, 2) capacity building, information dissemination and data sharing in the subregion, 3) satellite data requirements and access, and 4) estimating forest biomass. The conference report includes in section two an international overview of the forest carbon and REDD issue, with a focus on monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Section three includes the short papers and abstracts prepared from plenary presentations (Appendix 3). Section four is a synthesis of the working group discussions, while section five provides conclusions and recommendations. Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

13 2 OVERVIEW OF CARBON AND REDD: THE NEEDS OF MRV SYSTEMS REDD-plus requirements for the Congo Basin countries / Quelles sont les exigences techniques du REDD? Philippe Mayaux and Frédéric Achard Joint Research Centre EC/Observatoire des Forets d Afrique Centrale Context At the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Copenhagen in December 2009, the need to provide incentives for the reduction of emission from deforestation and forest degradation was for the first time mentioned in the final declaration of the Heads of State and governments, referred as Decision 2 of the COP 15 (2/CP.15). This decision follows on Decision 2 of the COP 13 (2/CP.13) on approaches to stimulate action for reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries. The Copenhagen Accord recognizes the crucial role of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation and the need to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emission by forests and encourages the immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD plus (...) to enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries. Decision 4 of the UNFCCC COP-15 Beyond the recognition of the crucial role of tropical forest and the agreement on the need to provide incentives to such actions of Decision 2/CP.15, Decision 4/CP.15 provides methodological guidance for activities related to Decision 2/CP.13 taken in Bali. In this short summary, we propose to underline the salient points of this most recent decision (2/CP.15). Decision 2/CP.13 invited Parties to further strengthen and support ongoing efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation on a voluntary basis and has been completed in Decision 4/CP.15 by requesting developing country Parties, (a) to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation resulting in emissions and also the means to address these; (b) to identify activities within the country that result in reduced emissions and increased removals, and stabilization of forest carbon stocks;. In the case of the Congo Basin, humid forests are distributed in 3 main land use categories of equivalent area: protected areas (450,000 km2), logging concessions (600,000 km2), slash andburn agriculture (440,000 km2), which means that in order to exploit the full benefit of a potential REDD+ mechanism, the full forest domain should be monitored by the national inventory (monitoring and reporting) systems. Decision 4/CP.15 further recognizes that forest reference emission and forest reference levels should be established transparently taking into account historic data and national circumstances. The core of Decision 4/CP.15 on methodological guidance deals with the establishment of robust and transparent national forest monitoring systems and, if appropriate, subnational systems with the following characteristics: combination of remote sensing and ground based forest carbon inventory approaches; Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

14 transparent, consistent, as far as possible accurate estimates taking into account national capabilities and capacities; and results available and suitable for review as agreed by the Conference of the Parties. Decision 4/CP.15 also invites Parties in a position to do so and relevant international organisations to enhance the capacities of developing countries to collect and access, analyse and interpret data, in order to develop estimates and to enhance coordination of the activities of the different stakeholders. Finally, it recommends the effective engagement of indigenous peoples and local communities in monitoring and reporting. IPCC guidelines definitions Parties are requested to use the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidance and guidelines, as adopted or encouraged by the COPs, as appropriate, as a basis for estimating anthropogenic forest related greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks, forest carbon stocks and forest area changes. It that context, it is useful to remind a few basic definitions agreed by the international community and that will serve of reference for the future agreements and mechanisms. For the Kyoto Protocol, forest have been defined in the Marrakesh accords as a minimum land area of 0.05 to 1 ha matching the two following criteria: (i) minimum height at maturity of 2 to 5 m, (ii) minimum tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of 10 to 30%. Each individual country has now to define the thresholds corresponding to its definition of forests. In Central Africa, DRC has already defined its forest for the Kyoto Protocol, as minimum areas of 1 ha, with a minimum height at maturity of 5 m and tree cover of 30%. This definition can now be adapted to the REDD context. Subsequently, deforestation is defined as the direct human induced conversion of forested land to non forested land. There is no official definition of forest degradation but, in a REDD+ context, it corresponds to a loss of carbon stocks in forests remaining forests due to human activities. Estimation of emissions In order to produce the greenhouse gases inventories in the LULUCF sector (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry), the IPCC guidelines define the following equation with two major terms: Emissions = Activities x Emission Factor where Activity Data correspond to the (Land use) area changes and the Emission Factor to the emissions per hectare for the different processes of land use change. Usually emission factors are calculated as the change in carbon stock contents between two different land use categories (i.e. C stocks of forests minus C stocks of grasslands). Carbon stocks are calculated for all Carbon pools (Above Ground Biomass, Litter, Dead wood, Below Ground Biomass or Roots, Soil Carbon). The IPCC guidelines foresee different options for measuring the terms of the equation, adapted to the national capacities and expertise. The following tables summarise the progressive levels of accuracy that can be achieved in the monitoring systems. Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

15 Approach Approach 1 Not suitable for REDD because only net changes are provided Area change estimate (activity data) Total area for each land use category at two dates, but no information on conversion Forest Degraded Non forest Total t0 Forest 191,171 Degraded 17,399 Non forest 316,961 Total t1 180,758 24, ,070 Approach 2 Not applicable for REDD because land use changes are not identifiable and traceable Tracking of conversion between land use categories from different inventories Forest Degraded Non forest Total t0 Forest 172,456 12,468 6, ,171 Degraded 6,157 9,986 1,256 17,399 Non forest 2,145 2, , ,961 Total t1 180,758 24, ,070 Approach 3 Applicable for REDD Spatially explicit tracking of land use conversion For the emission factors, the three Tiers listed in the IPCC Guidance for the LULUCF sector are applicable for REDD. Tier Tier1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Emission factor (Change in C stocks) IPCC default factors (Emission Factor Database) nggip.iges.or.jp/index.html Country specific data for key factors Detailed national inventory of key C stocks, repeated measurements of key stocks through time and modelling Situation in the Congo Basin In the Congo Basin, accurate estimates of the extent of deforestation exist since a few years (e.g. Duveiller et al., 1998). A few other papers/chapters of this report describe the regional forest monitoring systems developed by two groups of institutions: JRC/UCL/FAO/OFAC and SDSU/OSFAC. It must be underlined that the regional deforestation rate of the Congo basin is much lower than the rates in the two other tropical continents for the period Results of the next period ( ) will be available in a near future. For the emission factors, the current measurements of carbon content of the different types of vegetation in Central Africa are extremely patchy and are not a representative dataset for the diversity of the Congo Basin forests, from swamp forests to mountain ecosystems. It illustrates Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

16 the need for setting up regional field inventory databases by ecosystem type in order to minimise the cost of data collection and to reduce the variance of the estimates. Conclusions In order to establish operational national Monitoring (and Reporting) systems in the perspective of a potential REDD plus mechanism a series of fundamental steps must be put in place in the Congo Basin: Ensuring the provision of satellite data for area change estimates. Setting up of REDD plus national teams with the right equipment and well trained human capacities. Building ground based inventories of vegetation biomass for all the carbon pools. Making information available at regional level in order to reduce costs and increase accuracy of the estimates of carbon emissions. The linkage between the political authorities in charge of the negotiation ( negotiators ) and the technical bodies in charge of forest monitoring and inventories ( foresters ) must be improved in order to guarantee to the COMIFAC countries the possibility to play a key role in the international negotiations on climate change. To fulfil this objective, it is recommended to reinforce the capacities of the national forestry inventory teams and OFAC at regional level (as centre mandated by COMIFAC, in full respect of the subsidiary principle). Methodological Aspects for Forest Area Change Assessment through Remote Sensing, REDD / Livre de référence Source book du REDD Danilo Mollicone UN REDD Programme, FAO, Rome Background and rationale for the Sourcebook The sourcebook provides a consensus perspective from the global community of earth observation and carbon experts on methodological issues relating to quantifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of implementing activities to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries (REDD). While international policies and mechanisms for implementing REDD are still under discussion within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), it is emphasized that not only reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, but also forest conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks are to be included in the agreement which will be discussed during the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in December The UNFCCC negotiations and related country submissions on REDD have advocated that methodologies and tools become available for estimating emissions and removals from deforestation and forest land with an acceptable level of certainty. Based on the current status of negotiations and UNFCCC approved methodologies, the Sourcebook aims to provide additional explanation, clarification, and methodologies to support REDD early actions and readiness mechanisms for building national REDD monitoring systems. It compliments the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) good practice guidelines for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). The book emphasizes the role of satellite remote sensing as an important tool for monitoring changes in forest cover, provides guidance on how to obtain credible estimates of Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

17 forest carbon stocks, and provides clarification on the IPCC Guidelines for estimating and reporting emissions and removals of carbon from changes in forest carbon stocks at the national level. The sourcebook is the outcome of an ad hoc REDD working group of Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC GOLD, gold/), a technical panel of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS). The working group has been active since the initiation of the UNFCCC REDD process in 2005, has organized REDD expert workshops, and has contributed to related UNFCCC/SBSTA side events and GTOS submissions. GOFC GOLD provides an independent expert platform for international cooperation and communication to formulate scientific consensus and provide technical input to the discussions and for implementation activities. A number of international experts in remote sensing, carbon measurement and reporting/accounting have contributed to the development of this sourcebook. Scope of the Sourcebook This sourcebook is designed to be a guide to develop reference levels and to design a system for measurement, monitoring and estimating carbon dioxide emissions and removals from deforestation, changes in carbon stocks in forest lands and forestation at the national scale, based on the general requirements set by the UNFCCC and the specific methodologies for the land use and forest sectors provided by the IPCC. The sourcebook introduces users to: i) the key issues and challenges related to monitoring and estimating carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation; ii) the key methods provided in the 2003 IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (GPG LULUCF) and the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses (GL AFOLU); iii) how these IPCC methods provide the steps needed to estimate emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and iv) the key issues and challenges related to reporting the estimated emissions. The sourcebook provides transparent methods and procedures that are designed to produce accurate estimates of changes in forest area and carbon stocks and resulting emissions of carbon dioxide from deforestation and degradation, in a format that is user friendly. It is intended to complement the GPG LULUCF and AFOLU by providing additional explanation, clarification and enhanced methodologies for obtaining and analyzing key data. The sourcebook is not designed as a primer on how to analyze remote sensing data, nor how to collect field measurements of forest carbon stocks as it is expected that the users of the sourcebook would have some expertise in either of these areas. The sourcebook was developed considering the following guiding principles: Relevance: Any monitoring system should provide an appropriate match between known REDD policy requirements and current technical capabilities. Further methods and technical details can be specified and added with evolving political negotiations and decisions. Comprehensiveness: The system should allow global applicability with implementation at the national level, and with approaches that have potential for sub national activities. Consistency: Efforts have to consider previous related UNFCCC efforts and definitions. Efficiency: Proposed methods should allow cost effective and timely implementation, and support early actions. Robustness: Monitoring should provide appropriate results based on sound scientific underpinnings and international technical consensus among expert groups. Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

18 Transparency: The system must be open and readily available for third party reviewers and the methodology applied must be replicable. References GOFC GOLD, 2009, A sourcebook of methods and procedures for monitoring and reporting anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and removals caused by deforestation, gains and losses of carbon stocks in forests remaining forests, and forestation. GOFC GOLD Report version COP15 1, (GOFC GOLD Project Office, Natural Resources Canada, Alberta, Canada) Available at: gold.uni jena.de/redd/ Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

19 3 REVIEW OF REDD RELATED ACTIVITIES IN THE CONGO BASIN REGION 3.1 Overview Carbon Stocks and Land Cover Change Estimates in Central Africa - Where Do We Stand? / Etat des connaissances sur les stocks de carbone et leurs variations dans les forêts d Afrique centrale Robert Nasi a, Philippe Mayaux b, N Bayol c, A. Billand d acenter for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) beuropean Commission Joint Research Center (JRC) cforêt Ressources Management (FRM) dcentre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche pour le Développement (CIRAD) Introduction The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that 1.7 billion metric tons of CO 2 are released annually to the atmosphere because of land use change and largely from tropical deforestation, dwarfing the possible impact of possible forest CDM projects. The magnitude of the emissions from deforestation not included in the Kyoto Protocol triggered the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to initiate a two year process to address issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries. This process peaked during the COP13 in Bali in December 2007 with the Decision 2/CP.13 Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries: approaches to stimulate action. It is interesting to note that it took more than 10 years for the international community to accept that reducing emissions from deforestation or sequestering carbon from standing forests is more effective than through planting trees and reintroduce this topic to the international climate negotiations. Put simply, without entering into ongoing arguments about baselines or financial mechanisms, the idea behind REDD is to provide financial incentives to help developing countries voluntarily reduce national deforestation rates and associated carbon emissions below a baseline. Countries that demonstrate such reduced emissions would be able to sell carbon credits on the international carbon market or receive financial compensation in one way or another for their good behavior. No matter which final REDD mechanism is chosen, we will need to know as accurately as possible how much carbon (C) is: stored in different vegetation types (above and below ground), stored in the other C pools (litter, dead wood matter and soil), and released through AFOLU (agriculture, forestry and other land use) activities. What information is available and what is missing? Available: Land cover and land use changes derived from remote sensing (wall to wall or sampling based) Generic allometric equation for the estimation of aboveground tree biomass Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

20 Inventory data: Permanent Sample Plots, management inventories for several million hectares of forest concessions Missing or largely inadequate: Agreed vegetation typology across the region Agreed methods for the measure of forest degradation Inventory data specifically collected for carbon stocks assessment: soil and belowground carbon, dead wood matter, litter Allometric equations specifically designed for the region by vegetation or land cover types Adequate field data for vegetation outside of forest concessions or protected areas (periurban areas, wetlands, flooded forests, montane forests, etc.) The available and ad hoc estimates of the other information needed were used in the State of Forest 2008 and the reader can refer to those for more details. About errors and uncertainties Most of the estimates of C stocks in living vegetation are calculated on an unacceptably small area of permanent sample plots (probably less than 300 ha for the whole region) and/or calculated by allometric equations derived from an even smaller sample of destructive biomass studies and extrapolated to use extensive forest inventories, which were never designed to assess biomass but instead commercial volume. The uncertainties in building a biomass equation, in deriving biomass using plot or inventory data are numerous and significant. It is even more complicated to estimate the propagation of these errors from one stage of the biomass evaluation process to another and to the final result. The relation is not simple, errors being additive or multiplicative and though some errors might compensate, the confidence interval of any biomass estimation is likely to be disturbingly large. The use of satellite data has undoubtedly increased the accuracy of forest maps and of forestcover change estimates. However, uncertainties remain in the current datasets and affect the overall accuracy of estimations. New techniques and datasets that have been tested are still part of the research domain (like radar sensors). Forest cover changes occur at a very fine scale and require the use of time series of fine spatial resolution images. The methods available (spectral differences wall to wall, image segmentation on a limited sample) can be affected by several sources of errors (underestimation of subtle changes, inadequate sampling). The direct assessment of carbon stocks by remote sensing still suffers from errors due to the absence of clear and understandable relationships between parameters influencing the carbon amount and the spectral and backscattering properties in the optical and radar domains. Although these relationships have been demonstrated in the savanna domain with low to medium biomass, the radar signal saturates at high biomass levels and the other parameters influencing the spectral properties of the vegetation (moisture, slope, leave structure ) lead to significant instability in carbon estimates. New techniques such as LIDAR can improve the quantification of carbon stock changes during logging operations, but there is still a need for more investigation before that technology may provide reliable figures. Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin, 2 4 Februry

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